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Tenant banned from having dogs

A TENANT whose dogs caused a constant nuisance to her neighbours has been given a court injunction banning her from keeping dogs at her home. Lisa Boote, of Daisy Close, Pembroke Park, was taken to court by Sovereign Housing Association following complaints from other residents about the dogs incessantly howling and barking and an excessive amount of dog faeces left in the rear garden and inside the property.

District judge Francis Goddard, sitting at Swindon County Court, granted an injunction on December 20.

The injunction order will remain in force until December 20, 2013. If Boote breaches the order, she could risk eviction. The injunction compels her to remove all dogs from her property. She must not have any dogs in the future without written permission from Sovereign.

The order also forbids her from making other noise of any kind that causes a nuisance or annoyance to her neighbours. Speaking after the hearing, Sovereign said the dogs were often abandoned for long periods at day and night. It also claimed there was evidence that two of the dogs were being bred for puppies to provide an income to the resident.

At one time, there were 13 dogs in the property. Louise Borzoni, Sovereign’s anti-social behaviour officer, said: “The resident consistently failed to take responsibility for her dogs or their behaviour, or to provide them with the most basic care; this resulted in an intolerable situation for her neighbours. “We offered months of support and advice to this resident, but to little effect.

“In the end we had no option but to go to court to request an injunction order to compel the resident to remove the dogs from her property.” Sovereign said although the defendant did not attend the hearing, the judge felt the severity of the nuisance justified granting the order. Aaron Devereaux, head of anti-social behaviour at Sovereign, said: “This case highlights the extreme negative impact that dogs barking can have on neighbours.

“Sovereign seeks to help build and support strong and cohesive communities, and we always try to take firm action against all kinds of nuisance behaviour. We’d like to thank residents who came forward as witnesses, which allowed us to achieve this outcome.” Sovereign Housing Association is one of the largest housing associations in the South and South West of England, owning and managing more than 35,000 homes. The association works in over 50 local authority areas and employs around 1,000 people.